Off-beat Orissa - Unvisited

This Puja we are planning to go to Orissa. But this is not the usual Orissa that Bengalis go to. Not Puri or Bhubaneswar or Chilika. Starting next Monday, 25th September, we are going to the Keonjhar-Sambalpur region of Orissa. Our travel plan is like this. Day one will be to Keonjhar. We will stay there for the next day also, going to the various ancient temples and cave painting sites. Next we drive to Belpahar via Sambalpur and Jharsuguda. After spending two nights there we come back to Dhenkanal where the royal palace of the Singh Deos has been converted into a tourist resort. We spend two nights there and then come back to Calcutta via Bhubaneswar. 

Initially we thought of going to Vizag. Then realised decent hotels there were too expensive and you have to book them way in advance. This year we have had to spend a little too much already on our individual travels. Mampu went to Germany and Dehradun, I went on three different trips - DNP, Roopkund and Amsterdam. Each of these cost us quite a lot of money. So we didn't want to spend a lot of money on Puja travels.

But staying in the madness of Calcutta during the pujas (Maha Saptami is on Wednesday 27th September) is not an option. So I thought let's go and see Belpahar in Orissa - about which I have been hearing from Monisha for the last 23 years and Mampu for all of her 14 years. Monisha was born and brought up in this small town in Orissa. There is a refractory maker there, then called Tata Refractories (it has a new name now) where Monisha's father was the first employee. On the way would be Keonjhar while going and Dhenkanal while coming back. If possible we will dash for a day trip to Sundargarh from Belpaharh where my parents got married in 1960. It's only about 50 kms one way.

While we have booked the Keonjhar OTDC and spoken to the Dhenkanal palace manager, we have done nothing about Belpahar. Monisha has spoken to her teacher, one Mr Patel, who has told her that there is a lodge in the township area where we can stay. We are told there are a few hotels in the town as well. The factory has a guest house of its own. But since Monisha does not know any one any more there, it is doubtful that they will accommodate us. She is going to write to them. But I doubt we will get a response.

The more we read about Keonjhar the more interested we got. There are a few ancient temples there. Maa Kichakeswari temple is beautiful. There is one more whose name I forget but it's between Panikholi and Keonjhar. The Sitabhanji rock shelter is also near this temple where there are ancient frescos on the rocks. There are a few other beautiful water falls. 

So we will stay here to do all the sight seeing. Our route will be via Panikholi. We believe though it is 100 km more this is a much better road. The other route via Bahragora we are told is in terrible shape, particularly after monsoon. Repair work is on resulting in further delays. In comparison, the Panikholi route is entirely 4-laned. Mr Jitendra Kumar, our colleague who goes to Keonjhar every now and then by road told me a couple of weeks ago that he went via Bahragora but the road was so bad he came back via Panikholi. The Panikholi-Keonjhar road has been recently converted into a 4-lane highway. Let's check that out.

I know nothing much about the condition of the Keonjhar to Belpahar route, except that we should go via Sambalpur. According to Google there is a bifurcation before Sambalpur and the suggested route is through the other one that does not go via Sambalpur. It goes via a town called Kolabira. I was told that that route is pot-holed. Problem with Google suggested routes is that you never know which one is dependable and which one is not. 

We will be returning via Dhenkanal. This is an option suggested by Deep Banerjee. He said that the Singh Deos have converted their palace into a resort and are renting it out. We checked the photographs on their website. Monisha quite liked the idea and immediately spoke to them. Their manager, one Mr Samal told us rooms will not be a problem but the per day tariff including everything will be Rs 6000. Let's see if we can squeeze some more discount from him. But we will definitely stay there. Perhaps for 2 nights. 

The pre-trip planning stage is always the most interesting. You are never too sure about the route. You have one hundred questions. There is no ready answer. You are a little tense. You start with a trepidation and then when the trip is over it looks all so simple. Like our Jagdalpur trip. I was pretty tense about the second day, that is from Bhubaneswar to Chitrakote. Will there be Maoists before Sunabeda? How is the ghat section? Youtubing all the time. Trying to gather scraps of information. 

The vehicle has to be checked out for tyre puncture. I will get the alignment and balancing done also, not to speak of tyre rotation. All this was last done during the Jagdalpur trip two years and 10,000 kms ago. There are definitely small secret leaks in the front left tyre. 

I will then get the battery also checked from the Entally workshop. It's been more than 3 years that I bought the car and the new battery is still going strong. I hope it is going strong. 

 Thursday 21st September, 2017

Monisha shot off the mail to Belpahar yesterday. We got the email id from the internet and I drafted the mail for her. And guess what? Within a few hours their production head wrote back saying yes they would be happy to host us in their guest house and also sent instructions to the person in-charge of the guest house who has also responded saying that a room would be reserved for us on the proposed dates. What joy !!! We didn't think they would even read the mail :-) Not only did they read it, they responded positively within a few minutes. This is Tata culture. Rather factory culture, anywhere in India. They always feel happy when outsiders come visiting them. I have seen this even with our factory management in the remoter places.

Tyre Alignment and Balancing

Got the tyres aligned, balanced and rotated, not to speak of the puncture repair. The meter read 29310 km. The next alignment/balancing and rotation will be done at 40K. I went for a cross swap of the tyres. That is front left with the rear right. Next time it will be front to back.

Saturday 23rd September, 2017

Yesterday I got the battery checked by a Bat Mobile guy. His Metronics analytical tool said "replace the battery". I informed our regional service head, Subrata Das, about it and sought his opinion. He said going on a long tour with such a battery would be taking a risk. It can stop even in the middle of the road. "I shall organise a field trial battery from the Alpha factory and get it fitted", Subrata said. Today the boy came and fitted it to my vehicle. What a relief. The OE battery lasted for more than 3 years under the bonnet without a problem. I am impressed by its performance.

A special word of appreciation for the boy. One Sanjay Saha. Very nice spoken. Dignified. Gentle voice. I have never come across a mechanic with this type of sophistication. He could easily have been an officer in any large office. Unfortunately he is a Bat Mobile service mechanic whose job is to roam the city streets with his scooter and attend to car owners in distress. Very unfortunate.

Learnt a new thing about the car. The moment the new battery was fitted, the Media Nav in my car refused to start without some code. The screen had a huge display asking me to key in some authentication code. I thought since the new battery has still not been commercially launched, the Media Nav is perhaps not recognising it. I was mentally wondering whether I should go to the workshop or call up the helpline etc and cursing myself for not having completed all these a week ahead of departure.

Asked the WB TDI whatsapp group as a first step. A guy told me the Media Nav is asking for the Radio Frequency Code which should be found hand written on the first page of the owner's manual. I checked and he was absolutely correct. There was a simple numeric code, which I promptly keyed in. And bingo the Media Nav was back in action. It had nothing to do with whether the battery was commercially launched or not. It will do this every time a new battery is connected.

The Netherlands With Office

Zanse Schans near Amsterdam. A touristy spot for windmills.

In August 2017 I visited The Netherlands for three days on an office junket. Two days in Amsterdam and a day in The Hague. This trip, though extremely short, is special to me because this was my first visit to Europe. I have been to Australia and the United States but never to Europe. 

I am calling this a junket, a word borrowed from the world of journalism, to describe a trip where all expenses are paid for by a company and though there is an alibi of some official work, the real purpose of such trips is pleasure and holiday. Here the official reason was a dealer conference which was held at The Hague. More than 1500 dealers went and we were a 200-strong contingent of office colleagues. I have no clue why I was nominated. I guess it was the magnanimity of my MD & CEO who possibly nominated me. 

From Calcutta we flew first to Dubai by an Emirates flight. Although I was one of the first to reach the check in area, I ended up being one of the last at the counter because I had reached too early and didn't know where to stand. Inevitably I stood at the wrong place and when the line actually started I became one of the last. :-) Anyway, I reasoned that no matter who checks in first and who checks in last, we are all going to fly together at the same time. 

I got an aisle side seat. Next was my visit to the immigration counter. These days you don't need to fill up any forms any more. You put your finger on a machine, look at another machine with your spects off and the immigration officer puts a stamp on your passport. 

Next stop was security check and they have thankfully discontinued the custom of stamping your tag on the hand baggage. I had the Deuter 26 as my hand bag with my camera in it and the Dell laptop in its bag. I switched off the data on my mobile right after take off. In the plane one does get access to free internet, which I used. It's for two hours and ten MB data that you can use - whichever comes first. After that one has to pay for staying connected. 

At Dubai we didn't have too much time at our disposal. Had to go through a brief security screening and boarded the connecting flight to Dusseldorf. Yes, we were going to enter Amsterdam through Dusseldorf in Germany, which is about 3/4 hours by road. The Dusseldorf airport is a small one but with very strong free internet. Spoke to Monisha in India and Sophie/Sujoy in Germany. Completed the immigration process quickly. The lady didn't ask anything. It took a long time for my luggage to arrive, perhaps one of the last ones. 

Two buses were waiting outside the airport for us. Large luxury buses. Though it was late in the evening local time, like 10 pm or so, there was enough light in the sky. In Calcutta that would be like 6 pm light on a summer day. The buses took us to the centre of Dusseldorf city to a small Indian restaurant called Mayur. There was hardly any traffic or pedestrian on the roads. It was totally empty. Dusseldorf is really a small city. And it felt like we were in a dead city with not a soul in sight anywhere.

At Mayur we had a typical Indian dinner with rice, chicken masala curry and daal etc. It is run by an Indian family. Two guys and a woman. Possibly Punjabis. Food wasn't so bad. I heard one of the dealers later saying, "while away from home we must taste the local cuisine. One can get bhat-dal-chicken at home every day." I quite agreed with him mentally. 

In the bus, as in the plane also, Surajit, Jawhar Sengupta and I were together. After dinner the long drive to Amsterdam started. The long day was gradually coming to an end. But the prospect of some eighty people checking in together in the dead of night was daunting. We finally reached hotel Movenpick and I got the room key after some struggle. Key means a card. My room was on the 19th floor.

I entered the room to a stunningly beautiful night view of the city. The hotel is right on the bank of a wide canal down which ships and other marine vessels ply. To the left of the canal is the sprawling city. All dazzling at night. Despite being so tired from a nearly 24 hour journey, I couldn't help marvel at the sight. I have never slept on 19th floor of any building.

I was under the impression that the room would be on a twin sharing basis. And waited to see who might turn up. But after about half an hour realised that no one was possibly coming. It made me very happy. Checked out the bathroom. It had a bathtub. And a very nice concave shaving mirror.

Went promptly to sleep.

Next morning I woke up to the telephone call of Surajit (on whatsapp of course) who in his enthusiasm went for a morning walk and asked me if I would be interested to join. I thanked him for the offer and went back to sleep :-)

When I finally woke up and went down for breakfast I wasn't too late. The buffet breakfast spread was pretty large. I chose grilled tomatoes, giant mushrooms, eggs, bacon etc. Some bread and butter too. There were lots of other things, including Indian puri-bhaji. I strictly avoided the Indian stuff.

After the sumptuous breakfast it was time to go out. Boarded our bus to go to Zaanse Schans. This is a very very touristy place (meaning a place meant only for tourists) a little outside the main city of Amsterdam. There are several windmills here that actually work, in the sense the arms go round and round with wind. The Netherlands is otherwise dotted with lots of windmills but they are possibly defunct now. There are cheese shops and souvenir shops. You could go to the observation decks of some of the windmills. There is even a workshop that makes wooden boots for tourists. We saw a demo of how the shoes are made.